Sales of substandard phones rise in Nigeria

Players in the mobile phone market in Nigeria have raised the alarm over the rising volume of substandard phones as well as ‘grey’ market phones in the country.

A ‘grey’ market is where a product is bought and sold outside of the manufacturer’s authorised trading channels, but the products are originally produced by the brand.

This trend, our correspondent learnt, was rising even among some known mobile phone dealers in the market.

Speaking to some dealers operating at the Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos, which is the biggest open market for computer and phones in Nigeria, it was gathered that some stores now mix original products with substandard ones, as well as grey products.

In an interview with our correspondent, the Chief Executive Officer, PTV Phones, Mr. Banji Adesanmi, told our correspondent that the sales of substandard phones in the country had prevailed for a very long time and had generated a lot of complaints among consumers.

He pointed out that there were cases of ‘fake’ phones in the market, which are products of desperate dealers, who want to leverage on the names of popular brands.

According to him, some importers also bring in some unpopular brands into the country, which do not meet quality control tests, and have no warranty structure or after sales service.

He said, “The only warranty they have is when customers come and complain at their shops, they either replace the product or look for other things to do. The irony of this is that, such customer will to get another substandard phone for the one being replaced.”

Commenting on what is currently obtainable in most phone markets, Adesanmi said, “There are some people, for the sake of getting one or two dollars addition on a product, who can go as far as selling substandard phones. The sizes of some of these phone dealers do not matter. We know some of them that can fall for this.”

The PTV boss explained that some dealers mix ‘used’ phones with new phones, but only change the casing to deceive consumers.

“Now people sell two original phones with two ‘grey’ or ‘used’ phones. They just put the ‘used’ phones in new casing. Consumers should watch out for this. Before, we used to have people who do just ‘fake phones,’ but now, most of them mix their stock,” he added.

He said the influence of ‘grey’ market was a function of branding, adding that some brands have big cases of the menace, while for others, it has remained minimal.

To counter ‘grey’ marketing, the PTV boss said phone manufacturers should be smart with the pricing of their products as ‘grey’ products were patronised because of their cheap nature, though qualitative.

He said, “Producers should differentiate the product by codes like the IMEI numbers or stickers, and provide after sales service on genuine products.

“In Nigeria, some brands have advanced intelligence to detect large volumes of their product brought into the country via ‘grey’ channels.”

The Phones and Allied Products Dealers Association (Computer Village chapter) had, in September this year, said the Nigerian phone market had the potential to grow more if operators remained fair in their competition.

The association noted that every brand needed a level playing field to operate in the country.

The President of the association, Mr. Godfrey Nwosu, said that the body remained committed to protecting the interest of all players in the market.

He said the Computer Village was the biggest Information and Communications Technology market in sub-Sahara Africa, but currently on a downward trend owing to some unwholesome market practices.

Nwosu said it was important that phone brands in the market adhered to the ideal rules of engagement, adding that air competition remained very critical to the continuous existence and progress of the Computer Village.

According to him, the market had over 4,000 traders, with an average trader employing about four persons.

The PAPDA president, therefore, called on the government to position the Computer Village for further growth of the economy, owing to its huge wealth-creation potential.

To this end, the Nigerian Communications Commission had, in the past, given an ultimatum to phone manufacturers and distributors selling unapproved phones at the Computer Village to get an approval for their phones at the regulatory body’s office or face serious sanctions.

This followed a massive clampdown by the enforcement unit of the NCC on manufacturers of phones not approved for the Nigerian market.

The NCC is required to approve mobile telephones and any other telecoms equipment before they can be sold and used in Nigeria.

The NCC said the action became necessary due to the fact that some of the mobile phones flooding the Nigerian market had yet to be approved by the commission.

The Head of Enforcement, NCC, Mr. Idehen Efosa, was quoted as saying that the commission would not relent in its efforts until every phone imported into the country had been approved.

He said, “We are not asking them to stop selling in the Nigerian market, what we want is for every manufacturer or distributor to submit their phones for approval, and if it passes the test, they can go ahead with business.

“Nigerians must learn to conform to laws guiding the state. Inasmuch as we want the Nigerian economy to grow, it must grow obeying the rules of the industry.”

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Hmmmmmm Nigerians will always be nigerians anyday and time.Selling sub-standard phones is the best for us.Those who patronise phone buyers should always be more careful when buying phones.The Government too should order all manufacturers and distributors to submit their phones imported into the country for approval.
Nigerians should learn to conform to laws guiding the state,in as much as we want the Nigerian’s economy to grow.

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